In my view, the United States is now, and has been in a state of war with Iran for some time now. Its not full blown yet, but keep in mind, that we didn't call Korea or Vietnam a war either. Our politicans simply called them conflicts. Yes, we are clearly at war with Iran, but its not very popular to be at war with Iran right now, so no one is saying any thing.
In my opinion, making any sort of connection between the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese and the 911 attack by terrorists is totaly ludicrous. The Japanese wanted to be the dominate force in Asia, and the US was simply in their way. Long before we went to war with Japan, we were doing things to keep Japan in check.
I couldn't believe that I was all alone with part of the cross that Christ had carried. It felt so strange to think that just an ordinary person such as myself would now be in the presence of the symbol that had forever changed the world. Just a short while ago I had sailed the seven seas and had behaved like quite an ordinary sailor.